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To begin, this paper is going to discuss parkinson’s disease and how it affects

the brain resulting in hypokinesias and how it causes problems with speech/language

development. Parkinson’s is a very common disease in society and usually takes place

in adulthood, beginning with adults being diagnosed around 50 and increasing with age.

Parkinson’s is also more common in men and it is a disease that takes effect on nerve

cells in the brain, specifically the basal ganglia. This disease can impact a person’s life

in numerous ways including constant shakiness from tremors, depression, rigid

muscles, dementia, and changes in speech production.

Furthermore, the exact cause of parkinson’s is undetermined, but studies have

found many factors that play a role in the disease and how it begins. The start of

parkinson’s comes from the lack or loss of neurons that produce dopamine and without

high levels of dopamine the brain begins to partake in abnormal activity, this can also be

heredity. Parkinson's disease is considered chronic over acute because it develops over

time and can last years to the end of a lifetime. Although it varies upon individuals some

may be affected more than others and partake different levels of symptoms and like

mentioned above this disease takes place only in adulthood.

In addition, this disease results in hypokinesia which means a loss of muscle

movement to a certain extent, but this disease also relates to

speech/language/phonation due to parts of the brain being damaged and a loss of

subglottal pressure which is used for phonation. Individuals with this disease are usually

seen as more soft spoken and monotoned (maybe slurring or mumbling words) while

others may be the opposite with some stuttering. With the loss of muscle movement it
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can impact the movement of the mouth and facial expressions making it difficult for the

individual to get their point across, along with swallowing/choking/coughing issues as

well. Speech isn’t just affected because of the muscles or movement, but also due to

cognitive reasons. Parkinsons can resolve into dementia, but also carries cognitive

defects with it’s symptoms and any sort of dementia or problem with brain can make it

difficult to pronounce sounds or say the right words.

As mentioned before, parkinson's disease symptoms vary among each individual

diagnosed with it and the severity of the disease is determined within five to six stages

(which can be seen in the image below). At the beginning of these stages the symptoms

aren’t as noticeable and there may be appearance of slight tremors or change in

movement starting on one side of the body. As the stages progress the symptoms get

worse and a lot more visible all over the body making it difficult for an individual to

partake in everyday tasks or even live alone. With an anatomy aspect on this disease, it

is clear that muscles are a big factor in this diagnosis and some people eventually

cannot even walk or move on their own along with a change in bone structure due to a

decrease in posture. Non motor skills are also highly impacted and through anatomy we

are able to see what parts of the brain gets affected and how cognitive skills change.

In conclusion, parkinson’s disease and other diseases that result in hypokinesias

have a great amount of impact on an individual’s life including complications with

speech/language/phonation. Any sort of damage or loss of neurons in the brain can

easily affect cognitive development along with physical motor skills. With an anatomy

outlook on parkinson’s disease with speech-language development, the muscles and

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structures of the face and the basal ganglia in the brain are strong factors that create an

abnormal functioning in speech, language, swallowing, etc. development. (Image on the

next page)
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